New Zealand Day 10 & 11 (dec 4-5th)

We had a leisurely morning on the beach, and then it was back on the road. We were headed for Cape Reinga, the most northern point (minus an island) in New Zealand. We planned to camp in that area for 2 days. We drove north, more along the coast, and went by the bay of islands. I remember the guidebook saying “pictures of this place made you want to come to New Zealand in the first place”. And it was gorgeous. White sandy beaches, beautiful blue/green water, boats everywhere. We stopped in Russell, check our email, had lunch, and got some ice cream. It was quite a picturesque town on the water. Tons of old houses that had a british feel to it. Lots of yummy looking restaurants, quaint B & Bs. It would a place I'd like to stay if I had more money. We had to listen to some sleezy American in his 50s/60s try and pick up a young American woman in her early 20s. It was one of the most disgusting things I've witnessed in a while. It didn't totally ruin the ice cream sundae, as it was a yummy ice cream sundae, but man, that guy was nasty.

From, there, we continued on along the water and then north. We hit some rain and got nervous we'd be screwed by the weather, and unable to camp, but amazingly, but by the time we arrived at the campground (about 40-50 kilometers south of Cape Reinga, up on the pennisula, but not quite at the top yet), it had stopped raining. So, we were able to set up camp and eat before the downpour started. It was a wet night and R's allergies had gone crazy.

The next day, the rain cleared and we headed up to the Cape. We firs stopped at these massive sand dunes. Seriously massive. Huge. And it was weird b/c driving down the road we were driving through the Shire, green, rolling hills. And suddenly, we are in Dune. It was The Shire meets Arrakis. Seriously. We went from Lord of the Rings to Dune. Wait until you see the pictures. Anyway – the dunes were crazy huge and walked all over them and it was really neat. You could rent boards to slide down them, but the guy renting them was a HUGE asshole so, we did not.

After we left there, we drove down the very bumpy road to Cape Reinga and the lighthouse there. We wandered out to the lighthouse and looked around for a bit, then made our way back to a beach, ate lunch, then laid around for a few hours. The beach was very interesting, as it mainly appeared to made from broken down seashells. We finally hit relaxation on this day, after all the months of stress and hecticness. It was a nice change. We eventually had dinner and slept.

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I found my camera cord, so there shall be a picture post soon!

-N.